As medical device technologies continue to evolve, active implanted medical devices have gained increasing popularity in the medical field. For example, one type of implanted medical device includes neurostimulator devices, which are battery-powered or battery-less devices that are designed to deliver electrical stimulation to a patient. Through proper electrical stimulation, the neurostimulator devices can provide pain relief for patients or restore bodily functions.
Implanted medical devices (for example a neurostimulator) can be controlled using an electronic programming device such as a clinician programmer or a patient programmer. These programmers can be used by medical personnel or the patient to define the particular electrical stimulation therapy to be delivered to a target area of the patient's body, alter one or more parameters of the electrical stimulation therapy, or otherwise conduct communications with a patient.
Despite many advances made in the field of neurostimulation, one drawback is that the electronic programmers such as the clinician programmer have not been used to increase the efficiency of processes carried out during an actual implant procedure. For example, one of such processes carried out during an implant procedure involves testing pulses along the length of an implant lead, which is a device implanted next to the spinal cord containing the electrodes that deliver the electrical pulses. This process is used to determine what areas of the spinal cord need to be stimulated in order to mitigate the patient's pain, and how the lead needs to be positioned accordingly. Currently, a clinician (or another healthcare professional) would have to select one or more particular electrodes on the lead for manual programming, execute the stimulation, and wait for patient feedback. Based on the patient feedback, the clinician would have to adjust the positioning of the lead and repeat the entire process again. The process may need to be repeated several times before the clinician has found a lead position and electrode configuration that are deemed to be satisfactory. Therefore, the process discussed above is time-consuming, which is undesirable given that the process is performed in an operating room during an actual surgery. Among other things, the long process time may lead to more patient discomfort and increases the risks of the surgery. In other words, any procedure that takes place in a surgical setting is time critical. Since the lead position and electrode configuration process takes place during such surgical setting, it is imperative that it be fast, which unfortunately is not the case with existing programmers.
Therefore, although existing electronic programmers used for neurostimulation have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been entirely satisfactory in every aspect.